Well, the site is up and running nicely, although the orders are only trickling in because the in-laws haven't shelled out the $$$ to advertise. The site is hosted by dreamhost.com , the payment processing is authorize.net , through the reseller cdgcommerce.com .
Even if I wanted to violate my ISP TOS and host the site myself, it doesn't have the type of uptime required for e-Commerce (I'd bet your's doesnt either). In using linux hosting at Dreamhost, who is relatively cheap and allows SSH access - almost essential for DIY. I wrote the site myself in php5 with the help of a book - the software sitebuilders within my price range could not handle some of the quirky requirements of the shop (like entering custom embroidered Greek text:
The code is a heavily modified version of what is found in Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL E-Commerce: From Novice to Professional
http://www.apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=356
Although there were several headaches in getting it going, interfacing with the payment processors was fairly easy - if I recall correctly, it just sends an XML request to the reseller and goes from there.
If you'd like to take a peek at the finished product:
www.stitchnichepa.com